Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber: I Want to Be Famous

If you've ever looked at a "celebrity" on your feed and muttered "who?", this one's for you. Bobby Finger and Lindsey Weber, the hosts of the pop culture podcast Who? Weekly, are coming to Harmony Gold on Sunset Boulevard on Tuesday, September 29 to talk about their new book, I Want to Be Famous. Book Soup, the Sunset Strip bookstore, is presenting the night, and it's one of the more fun book events on the list of things happening in Los Angeles this week.

The book

The podcast's whole premise is a split: famous people are either Whos or Thems. A Who is someone you'd have to google. A Them is Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Tom Cruise. The book takes that binary and runs with it, looking at why the road from Who to Them keeps getting narrower even as more people get a shot at an audience. Finger and Weber dig into supplement deals, Notes app apologies, and celebrities breaking their own news on social media before any outlet can.

Lena Dunham blurbed it, which feels about right for a book about wanting to be looked at.

What to expect

The listing runs from 7 PM to 9 PM, so plan on a conversation with the two authors rather than a quick reading. If you listen to the show, you know the tone: fast, dry, and packed with deep cuts from celebrity history you forgot you knew. Finger is also a novelist (Four Squares, The Old Place, We Are Gathered Here Today), and Weber is a freelance writer and editor. Both live in Brooklyn, so an LA stop is a nice chance to see them in person.

Harmony Gold is a screening room on Sunset, which means real seats and good sightlines. It's a better setup than the folding chairs in the back of a bookstore.

Tickets and getting there

Tickets are $47.50 through Eventbrite, and the listing says no refunds, so be sure before you buy. The venue is at 7655 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90046, on the stretch between Hollywood and West Hollywood. Street parking on the side streets north of Sunset fills up in the evening, so give yourself a few extra minutes or grab a rideshare. Several Metro bus lines run along Sunset if you'd rather skip the car.

If you're scanning upcoming events Los Angeles has for a Tuesday night, a two-hour talk about fame on the Sunset Strip is a strong pick. Get there early enough to find a seat near the front.

Browse more events around Los Angeles or the full arts and culture calendar for other things to do in Los Angeles this fall.